What is AI, how can it be used in (your) daily practice and which impact will it have on (corporate and public) governance, the M&A practice, Cybersecurity, Health, jobs and the legal profession? This course will provide answers to these pressing questions!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be defined as the field of computer science focused on creating systems that perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as language understanding, learning from experience, and problem-solving.
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have received at October 8th 2024 the Nobel Price in Physics for their fundamental discoveries in machine learning, which are essential for how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used today.
AI has become widespread in applications like car navigation systems, digital translation tools, smart farming, social media, healthcare, personalized recommendations (e.g. Spotify, Amazon and Netflix) and for targeted advertisements in Google.
The recent big breakthrough in Generative AI, such as ChatGPT (introduced in November 2022), has revolutionized the way we interact with technology. These systems can create content – text, images, audio and even software code – on demand, transforming industries and the way we live and work.
While AI brings many advantages – such as reducing human error, availability at all times, avoiding repetitive jobs for humans, cost savings, and the ability to process complex data – it also raises significant concerns.
These concerns include ethical issues, privacy risks, biases in data, potential violation of image rights and copyright protected works through text and data mining, and potential misuse by unethical actors and hostile states for hacking and misleading the public. Most importantly, experts like Geoffrey Hilton, often referred to as ‘the Godfather of AI”, have raised alarms about the risks of AI surpassing human control.
To address these challenges, the European Union introduced the AI Act, which came into force on August 1st, 2024.
According to the European Commission this Act aims to provide “developers and deployers with clear requirements and obligations regarding specific uses of AI while reducing administrative and financial burdens for businesses.”
In this Course, we will explore what AI is, which impact it will have on (corporate) governance, the M&A practice, jobs and the legal profession (by a lecture and a workshop) and we will answer the question whether the AI Act, together with existing legislation on privacy and copyright, is sufficient to safeguard against risks of AI and what further measures or exceptions may be necessary.
Bachelor and Master students with an interest in Artificial Intelligence, Govermance and Law. PhD students and young professionals are also welcome to apply.
To equip students and young professionals with an insight into the background and development of key issues of Artificial Intelligence, Governance and Law. In addition, participants will learn to use AI to solve issues connected with the legal practice.
Contact hours daily: four to five hours (lectures, group assignments). Self-study daily: four hours (preparation and research).
Participants can choose to make a final exam on the last day of the course or to participate in a group presentation with a pitch about one or more AI issues judged by a jury. Grading for the exam is based on a 10-point scale on the weighted sum of different elements.
The participation in the group presentation will not be graded. The jury will select the best group presentation and the participants of this group will receive an extra certificate which states that the participant was member of the winning team.
If you are a student, you will pay the course fee of € 750. If you are not a student, you will pay an additional fee of € 150. This additional fee will be visible once the application is accepted.
The housing costs do not include a Utrecht Summer School sleeping bag and/or pillow. These are separate products on the invoice. If you wish to bring your own bedding, please deselect or remove the sleeping bag from your order once you apply for this course.